Oftentimes, one or more objects or components may need to be, or are desired to be, internally inspected in order to obtain information regarding the component that is not visually available on an exterior inspection, to identify the internal structure of the component, to view structural fractures or other failures of the component, or to review the inner workings of the component. Components may include parts of products or entire products. One way to inspect components for these and other similar issues is with digital radiography (DR) x-ray and x-ray computed tomography (CT) scans. For such scans, the component may often be positioned on a platform, in some cases a rotatable platform, between an x-ray tube and an x-ray detector. The x-ray tube transmits an x-ray beam against and through the component that is detected by the x-ray detector and converted into a visual image for inspection. The x-ray beam may have a focal point. For an inspection of the component from multiple angles thereof, the component may be rotated about a rotational axis that usually needs to remain aligned with the focal point of the x-ray beam. The position of the component relative to the x-ray tube is important to obtain a desired image of the component for an area of interest.
In some instances, it may be desirable to obtain images of the component using x-ray beams of different magnitudes or x-ray sources that vary in some other property such as but not limited to, focal spot size, which means using different x-ray tubes. This may require moving the component from one imaging system with one x-ray tube of one magnitude to another imaging system with another x-ray tube of a different magnitude (or another x-ray source that varies in a different property). That is, the component is physically moved from one system to the next, and this can take considerable time to correctly position the component relative to the x-ray tubes.
In some embodiments, multiple x-ray tubes may be used to transmit x-ray beams at different magnitudes within the same imaging system. Typically, one of the x-ray tubes has a higher magnitude, and may be larger in size, than at least one of the other tubes. The x-ray tubes may also have different focal points. Usually only one x-ray tube is used at a time, and typically switching between x-ray tubes requires repositioning of at least one or more of the x-ray tubes. In some embodiments, one x-ray tube may be mounted opposite the x-ray detector, and may be unmounted and replaced with another x-ray tube within the same imaging system. However, this can also be a time consuming and inefficient task. In some embodiments, multiple x-ray tubes may be mounted onto swing arms within the same imaging system, and a user may rotate one of the x-ray tubes out of the imaging area and then move the desired x-ray tube into place. These systems conventionally only permit repositioning of the x-ray tubes independently of one another. Moreover, it may be cumbersome to move the x-ray tubes out of the way of one another because of their relative size. Still further, this arrangement typically requires a larger footprint for the imaging system in order to swing out one of the x-ray tubes. Moving the x-ray tubes in and out of position in this manner may also result in one of the x-ray tubes undesirably making contact with the component to be imaged, forcing the component to be imaged out of position. The component to be imaged may, thus, need to be repositioned in order to realign the component with the focal point of the selected x-ray tube. Even if the potential for contact was not an issue, where the focal points of the x-ray tubes are not similarly aligned, the component to be imaged would nonetheless need be repositioned in order to align the rotational axis of the component with the new focal point.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have an imaging system where the component to be imaged does not need to be repositioned when switching between x-ray tubes of the imaging system. It would be further desirable to have an imaging system with multiple x-ray tubes having a more efficient footprint, and where the x-ray tubes can be moved into and out of position without obstructing or contacting the component to be imaged. It also would be desirable to have an imaging system where moving one x-ray tube out of position generally simultaneously moves the newly desired x-ray tube into position, particularly in a manner such that the focal point of the x-ray tube moving into position aligns to the spot where the focal point of the x-ray tube moving out of position was, such that the component to be imaged need not be repositioned.